Recommended Digital Cameras and Lenses for Nightscape and Astro Photography

by Roger N. Clark

Night sky and astro photography poses a special challenge
because it is an extremely low light environment.
To capture enough light, you need large aperture area
(meaning fast lenses). The best digital cameras
for long exposure night sky and astro photography have low
dark current and low pattern noise.

Introduction

Today's stock digital cameras have incredible sensitivity and when paired with
new larger aperture lenses, amazing photos of the night sky are possible.
Follow my guide for lenses below and you can make images like those
here, and even better.

My guide is limited to stock digital cameras and lenses, with a purpose
of dual use regular and astrophotography, and portability. I'll give a range
of options regarding cost. I specifically will not discuss dedicated
cooled astro CCD cameras (which are extremely expensive), nor huge telescopes
and mounts which can similarly be very expensive, costing thousands or tens of
thousands of dollars. Today's digital cameras and sharp large aperture lenses
can produce night sky images only dreamed about in the later part
of the 20th century and even then only with gear costing tens to hundreds
of times more than what we can do today.

There are 4 components needed to produce beautiful astrophotos.
I assume you have read the first parts of this series, specifically,
Parts 1a and Part 1c. That should give you a basis for choosing lenses
and cameras. Also see parts 4a (Astrophotography and Focal Length) and 4b
(Astrophotography and Exposure). The 4 components are as follows. 1) The
lens. The lens gathers the light. 2) The camera. The camera collects
the light delivered by the lens, and a low noise camera is key. 3)
Tracking device. Tracking allows you to keep the stars fixed within the
frame as the Earth rotates. Tracking enables one to collect more light.
4) Post processing skills. Post processing skill is needed to coax out
tiny faint signals from the night sky in the presence of ever-growing
light pollution. Post processing is discussed later in this series.

Figure 1. These images are illustrative of night sky and deep sky astro
photos that are possible with stock modern digital cameras and lenses.
These images are natural color images made with lenses having focal
lengths from 35 mm to 420 mm. The Milky Way nightscape was made with a Canon 6D + Sigma Art
35 mm f/1.4 lens. All the other deep sky images were made with a stock
Canon 7D Mark 2 digital camera, and Canon 300 mm f/2.8 lens. At center,
above the mountains is the core of the Milky Way galaxy. At right is the
full fram image of the nebula in the sword of Orion, M42, made with the 300 mm and the Canon 7D2.
Top center is the Whirlpool galaxy, M51, made with a 300 mm f/2.8 + 1.4x teleconverter
(420 mm) and 7D2. At upper right is the Great Andromeda galaxy, M31, made with the
300 mm and 7D2.

Best Lenses for Night Sky and Astro Photography

Available lenses have certainly changed in the last few years. Sigma has
launched its ART series with excellent build quality and superb optical
quality. I own several Sigma lenses, including the Sigma Art 24 and 35
mm f/1.4 lenses, which are my top working lenses for night and meteor
photography. I do not recommend shorter focal length f/2.8 lenses
because the aperture areas are too small. See Part 1c regarding short focal
length lenses and their light gathering ability.

For photographers on a tighter budget, consider the manual focus only
Samyang/Rokinon (same lens different brand label). Note these lenses
have performance close to but not quite as good as the Sigma Art series
with impressive stars for the price. Internet reports say there are poor
copies out there. I do not know how common this is, but test your lens
right after receiving it and return it for a different copy if it does
not meet your expected quality (check return policies before purchasing).
NOTE: the Sigma Art lenses have better build quality and with autofocus
are also great lenses for other applications, for example low light
indoor action (including people and pets). I prefer lenses I can use
for many purposes, as it usually saves money in the long run.

Lens aberrations: on the internet, one commonly sees wide angle lenses cited as
having coma. Coma shows as little comet-like star images with the head of the
"comet" pointing toward the center of the frame. The aberrations in wide angle lenses
is not coma, but dominated by spherical aberration and astigmatism. Such
aberrations typically show as "bat wings" coming off stars. Coma is a common
aberration of reflective telescope optics which use parabolic shapes for the mirror
curvature.

From the list of lenses below, confirm compatibility with your camera before
ordering.

NOTE: the
Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM Lens has a lot of aberrations when used wide open.
I recommend the Sigma 24 f/1.4 over this lens.
The Sigma 24 f/1.4 produces better stars at f/1.4 than does Canon 24mm f/1.4L II at f/2.
But if you already have this lens, by all means use it. You may need to crop
the images some. It should be better on a crop sensor camera. But if you are in the
market for a new 24 f/1.4, I recommend the Sigma over the canon lens.

The Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS II USM Lens is impressively sharp, very fast
autofocus, and fast f-ratio for low light work. It is excellent for
astrophotos wide open with excellent star images. The lens takes teleconverters well
and is slightly sharper than the 200 mm f/2.8 prime, below.
This is an excellent all-around lens for action, low light action and
astrophotography. My only regret is that I did not buy it sooner.
EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens

Long Focal Length Lenses for Deep-Sky Astro Photography

Lenses in this range are too large for the iOptron Skytracker. Tracking telephoto
lenses in this range requires the Astrotrac (or a big heavy telescope mount if you have one).
Aiming the larger lenses like 300 mm f/2.8 is also difficult with a ball head.
Once you position the field of view, tighten the ball head and let go, the whole thing
will sag and shift the field of view. The solution (more expense) is to use a gimbal head.
See below for heads. A gimbal head allows one to position the camera
and let go without tightening the axes and the field does not shift.
See Figure 3, below.

Lenses for Canon cameras:

The Canon 300 mm f/2.8 L IS version II is amazing on wildlife action,
birds in flight, and astrophotography lens. It has faster autofocus than
the larger telephotos and with the 7D Mark II, the reach is better than
could be done with 1D series pro cameras and 500+ mm lenses of just
a few years ago, and with better autofocus capability. This lens is my
preferred lens for wildlife action, birds in flight, and deep sky astrophotography.
The 300 f/2.8 plus 2x teleconverter and the 7D Mark II gives an angular
pixel size of just 1.4 arc-seconds (the size of a 1 mm spot at 206 meters distance;
that is 1/25 of an inch at distance of over 2 football fields).
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens at B&H Photo
There are many example images made with this lens in my
Astrophoto Gallery.

Budget telephoto. When I want a telephoto and still travel light,
I use a 300 f/4 L IS lens. The 300 f/4 L IS telephoto is an excellent
starter lens for beginning as well as advanced wildlife photography, and
pretty good for astrophotogyaphy. Combined with the 7D Mark II gives
one a powerful combination enabling pro level wildlife, and action images
to be made in many situations. Astrophotography imaging will require more
than 2x longer exposures than what you see in my galleries in images
made with the 300 f/2.8 lens.
Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM Lens at B&H Photo

I also have a Canon 500 mm f/4 L IS, and recommend the version II. The 500 mm with
a 2x TC and the 7D Mark II would give an angular pixel size of an amazing
0.84 arc-seconds per pixel. However, at angular pixel sizes nearing 1 arc-second,
the atmosphere is rarely stable enough to take advantage of such
extreme magnifications, whether wildlife action at a distance, or astrophotography.
For this reason I prefer the faster and lighter 300 f/2.8 (faster f/ratio and faster autofocus) most of the time.
If you want a 500 f/4 telephoto, order it here: Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens at B&H Photo
To track this lens accurately with an Astrotrac, a gimbal head is important.

Lenses for Nikon cameras:

Evaluation underway.

Lenses for Sony cameras:

Evaluation underway.

Lenses for Pentax cameras:

Evaluation underway.

Figure 2. A Spiral Meteor Spears the Heart, NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day for September 15, 2016.
This image was made with a Canon 7D Mark II digital camera and 300 mm f/2.8
telephoto lens. The Heart nebula is extremely faint and this 19-minute total exposure
time illustrates what an amazing camera the 7D Mark II camera is when paired with
the 300 f/2.8 lens.

Best Digital Cameras for Night Sky and Astro Photography

Key in choosing a digital camera for the very very low light levels in
night sky and astrophotography is very difficult because few review
sites measure two key parameters: dark current and pattern noise
calibrated in electrons. Only when these factors are known in electrons
can different cameras be fairly compared. Thus, my list of recommended
cameras is limited to where I have seen or personally measured data in this regard.

Currently, the top low light camera where we have measurements
of dark current calibrated in electrons and as a function of temperature is
the Canon 7D Mark II. There may well be better camera out there, but
show me the data. The 7D Mark II was used to make the image in Figure 2, as well
as the Orion nebula image, the spiral galaxy M51 image and the spiral galaxy
M31 image in Figure 1. All these images were made with the 300 f/2.8 lens.

Canon cameras:

The Canon 6D and 6D Mark II cameras are both excellent for wide angle landscapes, superb at low light
and night photography, and the center autofocus point provides
excellent response in tracking action. These cameras are my choice
for wide field nightscapes and wide field meteor photography.
The newer 6D Mark II has superb autofocus so is a multi-use night, action and general
photography camera. The smaller pixels of the 6DII is the same as the
pro-level Canon 1D Mark IV, and in my experience has similar AF speed and accuracy,
but is full frame. The 6DII and 7DII are thewinning paor of cameras that I currently
use for my photography, including wildlife on African safarisombined with
the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens
provide amazing dual use from wildlife action to deep sky astrophotography.

The Canon 7D Mark II is the pro level action camera that is also
a great astrophotography and low light camera. It tracks action similar
to Canon pro level 1D series cameras. The 7D Mark II is my choice for
long exposure photography running into minutes. It currently has
the lowest dark current for any camera for data I have seen.
Canon EOS 7D Mark II DSLR Camera at B&H Photo

If these models are too expensive for your budget, I suggest looking
for used recent model DSLRs from the last 8 years or so (e.g. Canon 7D
mark 1). Avoid older models for astrophotography because of higher dark
current and higher pattern noise.

At present I am not recommending any Sony cameras for long exposure night sky
imaging. Sony has lossy compression on some cameras and a noise reduction
on long exposures that eats stars (google "sony star eater camera" for examples).
I will change once Sony does away with this problem.

Pentax cameras:

Currently, I have seen insufficient technical data, including dark current in order
to make a recommendation on specific Pentax cameras.

Tracking Devices

Tripods, Tripod Heads, and Tracking Mounts

Figure 3.
AstroTrac TT320X-AG
mounted on a carbon fiber tripod. Included is the astrotrac wedge
for easier polar alignment, and a Wimberley gimbal mount for
easier positioning of the field of view with big heavy lenses.
The small wedge on top of the astrotrac, holding the Wimberley head is
a custom wedge made by a local machine shop. That custom wedge is
not necessary, but reduces stress.

For wide field nightscape and astrophotography I use two tracking mounts to
track the stars: and iOptron SkyTracker, and an Astrotrac.

Budget Tracker For a budget tracker, build a barn door mount. See Part 5.

Tripods and Heads

Gitzo Carbon Fiber (CF) Tripods. My Gitzo CF tripods have served me for
for well over a decade with no issues. I use my gear in extreme environments,
from rain, wind, snow, salt water, deserts, to the dusty Serengeti.
Here are the current equivalent Gitzo CF tripods to my now out-of-production
G1228 and G1325 tripods. If you can find good quality used G1228 and G1325 tripods,
they should serve you well for many years. For similar performing new tripods,
see these models:

NOT RECOMMENDED: At this time I strongly do not recommend the
4th generation products. It looks like they have a great light weight
gimbal head, so I bought one. Out of the box I tested the clamps and
one axis froze. I have tried contacting the company multiple times
for a YEAR AND A HALF. I even wrote a review on their website thinking
they would see it in their approval process and contact me. I have never gotten a
single response from them. If a company can't stand by their products,
do not buy from them. I have never ever made such a recommendation, and
waited 1.5 years for a response before making a public comment. I now
have what looks like a $500 boat anchor. I just need a boat.

Conclusions

Night sky and astro photography are challenging but rewarding types photography.
For best results, consider large aperture fast lenses of moderate to wide angle
focal lengths. Choose cameras with low pattern noise and very low dark current.
Use tracking devices to compensate for the Earth's rotation and collect as much light
as feasible.

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